III. Scope of concept

A fundamental criterion for the coherent description of landscape is the separation of LC and LU. The development of the EAGLE concept was based on the seed questions:

What is the ideal way to model the landscape from a separated and re-combinable perspective of LC and LU?

What kind of land cover information can be captured from bird’s perspective above landscape, mainly with remote sensing data and methods?

How to integrate further landscape information that is important for land monitoring purposes from other sources of information besides remote sensing to understand the consequences of human interaction with the environment?

How can an object-oriented modeling approach be applied in the field of land monitoring?

How to make the data model open for various applications and information sources as well as independent from scale?

To outline the targeted application purpose of the EAGLE concept, three key messages shall be mentioned here:

The EAGLE matrix aims at being a tool for analytic decomposition of class definitions and for semantic translation between recent or future nomenclatures.

The EAGLE model offers a conceptual basis for a future harmonised European land monitoring system and is open to be implemented as an object-oriented guideline for mapping and monitoring initiatives.

The EAGLE concept does not represent another classification system but instead a descriptive vehicle for harmonisation of LC/LU information supporting both centralized top-down and decentralized bottom-up approaches.

The figure below shows a graphic that illustrates the idea behind the EAGLE concept, being a tool for semantic translation between different nomenclatures and the core for a future European land monitoring framework.

It is important to state that the EAGLE concept with the data model, the matrix and this explanatory documentation are living documents and do not claim to be completely finalized. They are in the state of constant work in progress. Furthermore, any suggestion for improvement or modification is welcome and will be taken into consideration for future enhancement of the concept.

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